Crappy Batman & Robin ‘Changed My Career,’ Clooney Says

Believe it or not, there was a time when George Clooney was a struggling actor. Everything changed when he took on the starring role in what may perhaps be the worst film of the Batman franchise, 1997’s stone-cold horrible Batman & Robin.

"I don’t regret anything," he said. "With hindsight it’s easy to look back at Batman and go, ‘Woah! that was really shit, and I was really bad in it. The truth is, Batman is still the biggest break I ever had. It changed my career. I wouldn’t be doing this now if it hadn’t been for Batman."

One wonders who Batman will turn into a star next. The Dark Knight has made Christian Bale a superstar and Christopher Nolan a Hollywood player. But there are no assurances that either will be back to film the next installment, even though preproduction is rumored to take place as early as February 2009 in Chicago.

So who do you think should be the next Batman, or the franchise’s next director, should Bale and Nolan bail? One imagines that Guillermo del Toro could capably steer the Batman multiverse back to its fantastical origins or that Billy Crudup, fresh off the Watchmen film, might be able to hack the cowl. But it looks like all options are on the table.